Vahdam Teas

Sipdown (215)

Made this to go with my eggs benedict brunch. It’s a good pairing given this is a pretty simple black tea. Touch of floral astringency but overall just a nice, smooth drink.

U is for…Unitea

Today this is pretty astringent. Muscatel notes are strong but drying. It’s fine but not a favourite.

U is for…Unitea

I was going to write this off because of the darjeeling but then the smell of the dry leaf was nice. Drinking it, there is a bit of the astringency that comes from a floral/drying darjeeling at the end of the sip but the body of it is pretty nice. Again, I will write a proper note at a later time when life is less hectic.

Latte Sipdown (224)

T is for…Turmeric Spiced Herbal Tea Tisane

The strongest flavor here is actually cardamom which is a welcome surprise. Cardamom and lemongrass. A touch of earthiness from the ginger. Better than expected but not something I want more of.

Stove Top Latte Sipdown (255)

K is for…Kashmiri Kahwa

Made this on the stovetop and while it was alright, it was nothing special. The green base made it lighter overall but it was just slightly spiced milk. I drank it while playing Pandemic and don’t remember much so pretty unremarkable.

Stove Top Latte Sipdown (274)

E is for…Earl Grey Masala Chai

All the effort of making this on the stovetop and its just not very good. I am picky about chai and earl grey and so the combination of the two didn’t really speak to me. Probably why it took all day for me to start drinking teas in general…not really enthused about my “E” teas.

The top is a brisk bergamot flavor. It is reading potpourri to me. Potpourri and cardamom should not be friends. Vahdam tried to make that happen and its not for me.

D is for…Daily Assam Summer Black Tea

When I think about a daily tea, I think of black teas that are not overly flavourful. In my mind, the more flavour a tea has, the easier it is to grow tired of it if you drink it daily. That means that I don’t expect much flavour from this – just a smooth black tea that can give a kick of caffeine while not distracting you from your daily life. Honestly, I’m not far off. It’s smooth. Malty. The slightest metallic twang when it hits the back of the throat.

#tiffanys2021sipdown Tea #193 overall / Tea #17 for May
Tuesday 5/11 - Vahdam India green tea 2 sachets hot & plain 5/10, drank from fridge 5/11 with breakfast. I am not sure if I brewed this in too hot of water or if water had coffee remains in pot (using lobby container at work) or what, this just did not taste good.
#tiffanydrinkstea #tiffanys2021 #tiffanysfaves #tiffanyinthe614 #tiffanysteasipdown

#tiffanys2021sipdown Tea #104 overall / Tea #20 for March

Weds 3/17/21 (WRITTEN 3/21/21) — Vahdam green tea /2 sachets. Have 4 of these from an old sipsby box. Drank 2 of them hot & plain last week then cold-brewed them in a 20 oz glass jar. Nothing special to make me remember this in a good or bad way so not going to be something I get after finishing but wasn’t like oh this is terrible.

#tiffanydrinkstea #tiffanys2021 #tiffanysfaves #tiffanyinthe614 #tiffanysteasipdown #sipdownchallenge

Stovetop Latte Sipdown (296)

For the first time I made one of these Vahdam chais on the stovetop. It’s a lot better. So creamy and combines well with the spices. It’s smooth and flavourful and just a nice mix of spices. My usual latte prep method waters these chais down and doesn’t bring out the flavors well so I guess going forward these will be strictly stovetop.

A moderately astringent Tamil green with strong notes of citrus and mint on the nose the latter especially in the freshly brewed leaves. Some sort of lingering herbal or medicinal and gently fruity aftertaste. There’s no associated harvest date best I can tell so the general subtlety of the flavors may just be age but they’re certainly subtle.

Latte Sipdown (320)

Vahdam recommends making this stovetop but I got lazy and just made it the usual way I make a latte. It was so pretty and the milk/tea line was so sharp. It’s shallow but I think it makes the tea taste better haha.

I’m wondering if I should have made this via the stovetop though because it’s a bit loose flavorwise. I get a really nice cardamom flavor but it’s separated from the milk. It’s like the sharp contrast in looks also made for a sharp contrast in flavor versus when I make my beloved chaiwala chai on the stove top and it comes together deliciously. So I guess next Vahdam chai I try, I’ll do it on the stovetop.

Run in fear it is the Lapsang monster! Come to terrorize your taste buds! …. or not? This is pleasant. Deep woodsy hints, the smoky notes hit next but gently, unlike Lapsang which generally, I feel, leaves me feeling like I was on the wrong side of the campfire smoke. Clean and smooth mouthfeel. Leaves a slight smoky after taste but it also feels clean like a mountain top rain.

Latte Sipdown (288)

My sister bought me a chai sampler pack and a black tea sampler pack from Vahdam for Channukah. Today I was sort of just relaxing on the couch after class. Together my brother-in-law and I watch Ratched and we had 3 episodes left so we binged them while my sister did some work. Then I realized it was after 4 pm and I hadn’t had a cup of tea. I wasn’t feeling my usual matcha latte today so I went for a chai latte instead.

I used the whole sample for the package. It was a weird amount of leaf that was just shy of what I would use for a 16 oz latte so I debated about making a 12 oz latte instead but just committed to the 16. Maybe I should have gone for the 12 oz though because this is a bit bland. I get cinnamon but its flat. Like I know there is spice here but its all muted. Perhaps the others will be more successful…

Last night I had this straight and it packs a punch of spiciness. There’s both heat and sweetness from the pepper with hints of cardamom and clove coming through. To brew straight, I went right in the middle of the steeping parametres at ~95° C for 4 minutes.

This morning I made this on the stove with almond milk. The spices are more subdued, as is expected, but they meld together well with very little sweetness. I really enjoy this chai.

Samurai TTB #37

I love Assam and don’t love Darjeeling, so I was curious to try this blend of the two. Unfortunately, I didn’t really get the distinctive qualities of the teas; it just came across as a somewhat mediocre breakfast blend. Fine with milk, but nothing I’d especially care to drink again.

Adventaggedon Day 24 – Tea 5/6

Welp – I knew I was asking for too much hoping that I’d get three teas I enjoyed in a row.

Honestly, of all the advents I did this year I found this to be the most challenging for me. There were a lot of very similar teas and repetitious ingredients – with so much focus on Chai/Turmeric. I really shouldn’t be surprised because spices are kind of Vahdam’s speciality and I did want something that would push me outside of my comfort zone – but I was just hoping for some more straight/single origin teas or more inventive uses of the spices. Not six variations on a turmeric tea…

There were many days where I really wanted to skip the Vahdam tea – but I’m very proud of myself for not doing that. Actually, in general I’m just super proud of myself for not falling behind on advents AT ALL. Last year I did five “full” advents and one 12 Day Countdown, along with a single instagram photo and daily Steepster notes – it felt like a lot at the time and I swore that I wouldn’t do the same amount this year. Well, I was right in a way because I didn’t do the same amount – I just did more.

I had six “full” advents (if you count the two 12 Tea countdowns as one advent), wrote daily steepster notes for each tea, and took an IG photo and story post for every tea each day in addition to running three IG advent chat groups – all while working my full time job (at which I was SIGNIFICANTLY busier than last year) and doing my podcast. All that, and I didn’t miss a single thing or get behind at all. It was a crazy packed month, and to say I felt busy would be an understatement. I don’t think it’s fully hit me yet that tomorrow I can just drink whatever the fuck I want…

This tea, though? Yeah, it was fine – I honestly was paying closer attention to the Bojack Christmas special I was watching that the profile of the tea, and honestly after reading Cameron B’s tasting note that might have been a good thing? I do recall tasting the mint, but otherwise it was a pretty nondescript tea. Sort of underwhelming to finish out the advent on, to be honest.

Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CJM0NCOgiTR/

Sipdown! (32 | 353)

Cold brewed! I’ve never had chamomile cold before, but the other ingredients were just calling out to be cold brewed…

I like it! It’s mostly chamomile, which I find very refreshing iced. Then there’s the cooling mint, and just a kiss of citrus from the lemongrass and orange peel. The chamomile almost reminds me of elderflower when it’s cold.

I will say, I would decrease the amount of chamomile in relation to the other ingredients, just to allow them to shine a bit more. As-is, it’s mostly a chamomile tisane with some supporting flavors. And I do like chamomile, but I’m also wishing for more citrus!

Vahdam Advent Calendar – Day 24

Well this seems an odd choice for the last day… Also I don’t see any green tea here, just big, beautiful mint leaves with chamomile, lemongrass, and citrus peel. I’m still steeping it as a green tea, just in case.

Yeahhhh, I don’t taste green tea either. The chamomile is the strongest flavor here, and it’s very soft and honey-sweet. The mint is second, and adds a soothing cool freshness. I also get little pops of gentle citrus from the orange peel and lemongrass.

As a chamomile fan, I like this one. It has a very soothing herbal flavor with a nice mellow sweetness. But I’m not sure why they even bothered with the green tea, since I can neither see it nor taste it…?

Overall, this was a very interesting advent calendar experience. I ordered this with the idea of going outside my comfort zone, as I haven’t had a ton of experience with masala chai and I knew this would have a lot of spiced blends. The format is really cute, with the unique little mini-tins inside numbered boxes. The art on the front of the box is gorgeous as well. However, I admit that I felt the distribution of teas was very unbalanced… There were far too many turmeric tisanes, and a lot of them were close together as well. I didn’t mind the several masala chai teas, as I expected them going in. But I really would have liked to see more straight teas included, especially more Assam teas. Maybe an Indian white tea would have been fun as well? And the price was quite high, at $80 – though there was a lot more tea included than other advents (470 grams!). Overall, wouldn’t recommend unless you really like turmeric…

(today’s advent teas: https://www.instagram.com/p/CJMA9FugSnn/)

Sipdown! (11 | 409)

The very last advent mini-tin has been defeated! \o/

This is an interesting one. It’s called “Chocolate Vanilla” and yet really it’s a Mexican hot chocolate-style chocolate and cinnamon rooibos with a bit of vanilla creaminess. The chocolate is fairly natural despite there being some chocolate flavoring here, and the cinnamon is somewhere between the spice itself and Red Hots. The vanilla mostly just adds creaminess, I think.

I like it, but not something I would order. I would rather just have a hot chocolate!

Vahdam Advent Calendar – Day 23

Wow, what an unexpected selection from Vahdam! A rooibos with chocolate, vanilla, and cinnamon? Sounds delicious though.

It’s quite good. There’s a nice creamy cocoa flavor with the perfect amount of warming cinnamon, and a pleasant caramelly note from the rooibos. It is a bit thin, which isn’t that surprising given that it’s a rooibos…

I’ll have to try playing with the amount of leaf and steeping parameters to see if it can be improved.

(today’s advent teas: https://www.instagram.com/p/CJJTedoAugd/)